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Bernie Parent just launched an authorized version of his famous mask and took time to talk to TendersLounge about masks, Ray Emery and Pearl Jam.

You can't get more authentic than a mask made from the original mold. Click on the photo for more details or to order one for your favorite goalie.

Parent’s mask is iconic for its simplicity and he is now offering an exact replica of the mask he wore for the Flyers’ first Stanley Cup to his fans. Why now and why is he doing it himself? “Some of the replica masks I’ve seen are very poorly designed and don’t really look like my mask. I want fans to have the real McCoy. We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of Jacques Plante wearing a mask for the first time so it seemed like a good time to do this.” Parent’s mask was actually designed by Plante, with technical advancements provided by NASA to help absorb and dissipate impact. Continue reading →

Bernie Parent was one of the best goalies in the NHL during the 1970’s. In ’74 and ’75 he was quite simpley the best goalie in the world, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups and winning consecutive Conn Smythe trophies in the process. As they said in Philly at the time, “only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent”. Parent took the time to talk with TendersLounge about the changing world of pro hockey during the era of expansion and the WHA, playing alongside his childhood hero, Jacques Plante, and how he’s keeping busy today. What struck me most about the conversation was Parent’s incredibly positive attitude towards life and everything it has to offer. Here’s a guy whose career was ended by an errant stick hitting his eye, who nobody would question for harboring bitterness toward how his hockey career ended, but Parent genuinely seems to be happy with all the experiences in his life.

Parent veered from his conservative style when he joined the upstart WHA

TendersLounge: Welcome to the TendersLounge Bernie! The first question comes from my dad who used to love watching you play and has shared his stories with me. After wearing such a colorful mask in the WHA, how did you end up in a plain white mask with the Flyers?

Bernie Parent: Good question. Next question! Just kidding. Someone suggested I wear the flaming mask for the Blazers in the World league, so I thought that was appropriate because it was a new league. When I got back to the NHL I went back to the original Parent look which is a conservative look with just the Flyers logo.

Trevor Leahy is looking for every advantage in the net, including designing his own camouflaged equipment. Photo by Christopher Muise

Trevor Leahy looks and sounds like a pretty unassuming high school kid, and as of last week you’d probably never heard of him. Even now you might not recognize his name or face but you’ve probably read about him in the news this week… he’s the high school kid who designed goalie gloves and pads to look just like the net he’s guarding. It seems like such a simple idea that you can’t help but ask yourself “why didn’t someone think of that before?”. Others have thought about how the color of goalie equipment affects where the shooter looks but nobody thought of pure camouflage before this teenager started thinking about what his new pads should look like. Trevor took some time to talk with TendersLounge after his practice this afternoon.

TendersLounge: It’s been quite a week for you!

Trevor Leahy: Yeah, it’s been pretty crazy. It just kind of blew up and took me by surprise!

Mike Palmateer was the most entertaining goalie (apologies to Johnny Bower) to wear the blue and white.

Mike Palmateer was the most acrobatic NHL goalie of the late 70’s and early 80’s, and to this day is still a favorite of Leafs fans.Mike was kind enough to talk to me during a rare day off from his current job of being an amateur scout for the Leafs.I caught up with him after his last fishing trip of the year so he was kind of sad about finally having to put his boat away for the winter.I started our conversation by telling him one my favorite memories, getting to meet him and Rick Vaive after a Leafs practice when I was 12 or 13 years old and then having lunch at the Hot Stove Lounge at the old Maple Leaf Gardens.To this day it’s one of the best days of my life.He actually had a similar memory of getting to go to the Hot Stove Lounge with his dad when he was a kid.When I told him about how he had come out of the locker room to meet me he asked if I was playing in goal back then.I told him I was and that I had first become a goalie at the age of four because I couldn’t skate so I thought I could hang onto the posts.That got a laugh out of him and the best thing overall about the interview is that he laughed a lot.He talked about how he became the Popcorn Kid, the ’78 Leafs, his somewhat-recurring role on a TV sitcom and how he ended up with the famous design on his mask.

TendersLounge:The first question actually comes from my dad:which rink had the best popcorn?”

Mike Palmateer:(laughing) Someone came to interview me in junior and saw me eating popcorn before a game.We used to get to the rink two hours early and would be kind of hungry and the only thing we could get at the concessions was popcorn.They weren’t even open yet but we’d knock on the back door and they’d give us some popcorn.So the reporter asked me if I ate popcorn before every game and I said ‘Not really’.But when the article came out the next day he called me The Popcorn Kid.The best popcorn was the London Gardens, but I didn’t really eat it every game. To be honest though most of the time when I go to games today I end up getting popcorn. But when I’m in Quebec I get a hot dog because they’re good.

In the tech world (where I make my day-to-day living), Guy Kawasaki needs no introduction. Seriously, he gets paid tons of bucks to speak at tech events all over the world (check out how they send him to these events) and hangs with the who’s who of the business world. Today I drove down to Redwood City to play some pickup with him, learn more about Alltop (if you’re reading this you MUST check out Alltop), and hear about hockey in Hawaii (where he’s from). BTW, just to give the non-techies in TendersLounge a sense of how Guy rolls, when someone in Montreal heard he was in town they arranged an introduction to Patrick Roy. Serious street cred… or ice cred as the case may be. Check out my visit with Guy: